St Andrew, Didling, Sussex

I Location

Site Location: Didling
National Grid Reference: SU 835 182
County: traditional: Sussex
now: West Sussex
Diocese: medieval: Chichester
now: Chichester
Dedication: medieval: St Andrew 1532
now (or name of monument): St Andrew
Type of building/monument: Parish church

II General Description

A very small stone church in a rural location, of 13thc. appearance. The single-cell nave contains 15thc. pews. There is a square-ended chancel, and considerable amounts of brick walling. The church contains a plain font.

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

: Font, from N

A very irregular, unlined tub font set on a roughly hewn circular plinth.

Dimensions

circ.	1.98 m
ext. diam.	0.63 m
int. diam.	0.45 m
max. h. excl. plinth	0.49 m
max. h. incl. plinth	0.73 m

VII History

Didling is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey.

VIII Comments/Opinions

A notice in the church claims that the font is 'Saxon', and that it is hewn from a block of Bracklesham stone; Nairn and Pevsner suggest that it is 'probably 12th century'. In fact, it is such an unskilled piece of carving that it is impossible to date. The preponderance of plain Romanesque fonts in the area (e.g. Chithurst, Bepton, Cocking), and the dearth of Anglo-Saxon material, makes it probable that the font dates from the 12thc. It is not inconceivable, however, that it dates from the 13thc., like the church.

IX Bibliography

I. Nairn and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Sussex. Harmondsworth 1965, 208.
R. Tricker, The Shepherds' Church. Saint Andrew Didling, 1986.
Victoria County History: Sussex. IV (Chichester Rape) 1953., 7, with plan. See: Sussex Archaeological Collections 42, 79; 44, 334.
A. K. Walker, An Introduction to the Study of English Fonts with Details of those in Sussex. London 1908, 58-59.